Date for rectangular notch-style oarlocks

[Dan DSilva]

I recently got an Airfix HMS Prince (1670) for my War of the Spanish Succession fleet.  It has three boats, whose gunwales have rectangular notches for oarlocks, and I'm wondering whether this is accurate for the late 17th to early 18th century, or I should try to modify them by filling in the notches and adding thole pins.  If I'm reading The Boats of Men-at-War (page 65) correctly, it seems to say that this style of lock was introduced with cutters, and other types of boats were modified in the late 18th century to eventually have the same style.  Can anyone corroborate or disprove these claims?

[Billpitts]

I have been looking at a lot of boat plans to do a model and found the following.  In the book by Richard Endsor, The Master Shipwright's Secrets, there is a picture of the pinnace for Tyger 1681 that has pins with supports against the pins on top of the gunnel,  no notches in the gunnel.  The model of the Medway boat from 1742 in the Royal Museum in Greenwich England shows plain pins sticking up from the gunnel, no notches.   I have no idea if either of these methods are how it was done on your boat, but neither shows notches.

 

Bill